March 13, 2010
OREM, Utah - After eliminating two of the top three seeds over the Great West Conference Tournament's first two days, the Utah Valley women's basketball team came from 18 points down to upset No. 1 seed and regular season champion North Dakota, 70-62, to become the conference's first-ever tournament champions.
In a game that reflected the team's season, a slow offensive start found UVU (10-22) trailing early on before slowly chipping away and finishing strong to win the team's fifth straight game.
Trailing by six late, Asumi Nakayama hit a free-throw line jumper and Jenna Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second coming with 1:46 to go, to put the Wolverines up 59-57, their first lead of the game. UVU then hit 11-of-12 from the line over the final 1:23 to seal the win.
Nakayama finished with 14 points, eight assists, five steals and five rebounds and was named the Tournament MVP after averaging 17.0 points, 7.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds and over three steals per game. Johnson, who scored 17 and was named to the All-Tournament team, helped limit GWC Player of the Year Kayla Bagaason of North Dakota (17-14) to eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Kaycee Mansfield had her second double-double in two days, scoring 15 points and pulling down 12 rebounds and was also on the All-Tournament Team after averaging 10.0 points and 11.3 rebounds.
"Honestly it feels very, very surreal right now. It has been a rocky, rocky road, and the thing that kept me hopeful all year long was that they would come every day and work," said UVU head coach Cathy Nixon.
"These girls wanted to do it so badly for each other, and they were willing to do what it took. To fight back the way that we did I couldn't be happier for them."
The Wolverines dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Fighting Sioux 50-33 including 23 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points.
In the first half, UVU hit just four of its first 22 shots while the Fighting Sioux knocked down 11-of-17 to start the game and built a 29-11 lead through 12 minutes.
Leading 29-13 with 8:21 to go in the half, North Dakota center Whitney Ledger picked up her second foul and was forced to the bench. From there the Wolverines scored the next eight points to trim the deficit to eight and held UND to six points over the final eight minutes of the half. North Dakota led 35-27 at the break.
Utah Valley began the second half on a 13-5 run to tie the game at 40 with just under 14 minutes to go. The Wolverines weren't able to take a lead though and the Fighting Sioux regained control of the game and led by six, 57-51, with 3:26 remaining before Nakayama and Johnson hit the threes to put UVU ahead.
Mallory Youngblut scored 20 points, hitting six 3-pointers, to lead the Fighting Sioux and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
In her final game as a Wolverine, Julie Smith scored 15 points in 30 minutes before fouling out.
